What is SAM and what advantages does the integration of used software offer?

More security, efficiency and effectiveness for your corporate IT

What does Software Asset Management, or SAM for short, actually mean and is it worthwhile for our company? Expanding and fast-growing SMEs in particular are usually very quickly faced with this question, which large companies or corporations have long since answered for themselves. After all, software and the associated licence management is at the heart of a company and developments in the area of digitalisation will progress dynamically in the coming years. 

Cloud computing, hybrid software architectures and on-premise operation require active and, above all, efficient SAM so that costs do not get out of hand and block the scope for necessary investments within the IT budget. In addition, the different compliance requirements of the respective manufacturers must be ensured. It is not uncommon for large companies to have three-digit licence agreements with software providers and a far greater number of operating systems, servers, applications, versions and editions in use. Without professional SAM as part of the IT strategy, it is almost impossible to maintain an overview and meet the daily requirements of licence management. Read here what distinguishes SAM and why the integration of used software licences can be particularly worthwhile.

What is SAM? 10 factors that characterise successful SA management.

1. you know the current licence stock and the associated running costs.
   
   
2. you know the needs of the existing workstations and can allocate the licence stock and the respective user requirements accordingly.
   
   
3. in the event of a manufacturer audit to verify your software compliance, you have access to complete licence documentation.
   
   
4. you differentiate between cloud software and on-premise software and know the associated add-ons, such as maintenance and service contracts, as well as their terms.
   
   
5. you actively manage the licence inventory and adapt it to the respective needs of your company, for example in the event of organisational changes or restructuring.
   
   
6. you carry out regular evaluations of your inventory and compare them with current and short- and medium-term requirements. For budget planning reasons, the fourth business quarter is often a good time to do this.
   
   
7. If licences are missing, purchase used software licences in on-premise operation, especially for standard software from large providers such as Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle or Citrix, and use the savings potential of up to 70 percent compared to the respective new version.
   
   
8. in the event of over-licensing, sell licences that are no longer required to a reputable dealer of used software, such as PREO, in order to open up new financial scope for investments.
   
   
9. SAM is part of an overall strategy for managing your IT assets (ITAM) and services (ITSM) and includes hardware components as well as IT security and availability or sustainability aspects.
   
   
10. If you are not yet using professional SAM tools for your licence management and the distribution of roles and permissions, you should consider it sooner rather than later. Our experience shows that IT managers often delay the introduction for too long and instead continue to resort to error-prone and thus risky manual administration. 
    

In general, it can be said: the more decentralised the organisational structure of a company and the more differentiated and varied the software requirements for individual workplaces are, the sooner a professional software solution pays off. Excel spreadsheets should be a thing of the past even for smaller medium-sized companies with 50 to 100 workplaces.

Would you like to print out our "10 factors that characterise a successful SAM" as a checklist? Click here to download

Securing competitive advantages through a professional SAM

Of course, professional software asset management also ties up internal resources and incurs external costs through the use of a professional SAM tool, but above all it secures competitiveness and advantages for companies:     

• Effective spending control - Especially with the rapidly increasing number of SaaS offerings, cloud and AI solutions, where anyone can download and install software without the IT department, it is easy to lose track.

• Security in software compliance - in the event of an audit, you are prepared and avoid expensive surprises through re-licensing and possibly even high contractual penalties. Large providers in particular, such as Microsoft, have significantly increased the number of audits they carry out again after the Corona pandemic.

• Optimisation of internal processes - you can react more quickly to changes in requirements and make the users' everyday work easier.

Successful SAM through the integration of used software

The ongoing expenditure for software licences ties up a large part of the budget in the IT sector and ever new developments and versions inevitably also increase the licence costs. This is especially true for cloud products, for which Microsoft, for example, recently raised prices in Europe by an average of eleven per cent. This makes it all the more important to keep an overview and look at cost-effective alternatives. Especially when using standard software, such as Windows operating systems or MS Office applications, the purchase of used software licences for on-premise operation or integration into hybrid software architectures is a good idea. Here you profit in several ways, because not only are the licence costs, depending on the version, sometimes up to 70 percent lower than those of the latest licence. In addition, indirect expenses for internal support or training measures can be significantly reduced. Licences that are no longer used can also be sold and thus remonetised. The income generated in this way can then be used for new projects.   

You are interested in buying or selling used software licences for your company, but still have questions first. The PREO licence experts will be happy to advise you free of charge and without obligation and, if you wish, will prepare a tailor-made offer for you.

Inquire now free of charge

Benefit from used software in SAM with PREO

We are one of the pioneers in the European trade with used software licences and market leader in Germany. We offer companies, organisations and public administrations a large selection of used volume licences at any time, which can be integrated into the existing software asset management in an audit-proof manner. This is how you secure all the advantages:     

• Efficiency advantages through high savings in running licence costs of up to 70 percent compared to the respective new version. 

• Sustainability advantages through entry into a resource-saving circular economy including extension of software and hardware cycles including the associated reduction of CO2 emissions - keyword Green IT.   

• Compliance advantages through 100 percent legally and audit-proof licence acquisition with maximum transparency in all processing steps including complete documentation in the PREO licence portal "Easy Compliance".

• Competence advantages through many years of expertise in the integration of used software licences in classic network structures or hybrid licence models.

• Capacity advantages through established software licence management for large IT infrastructure projects with thousands of workstations and transnational locations.

Inquire now free of charge